Leaderboard

It must be so horrible for Sawyer and the other creative people at Obs right now. The two new IPs that they created with a lot of their passion and vision and talent and effort they have been ordered to kill/scrap/shelve (along with all other passion projects they may have been working on), and then they're ordered to all work on just one project that is an IP that belongs to someone else and over which thy won't have full creative control. I have to wonder if some of these people, including Sawyer himself, are contemplating just walking away from it all in disgust.

I finished ToEE after about 90 hours. Well I defeated Zuggtmoy after that time and assumed the game would end but more about that later As I mentioned its the best adaption of D&D rules and mechanics of any D&D game I have ever played and the combat strategy is always exciting I had many difficult fights and I loved how I would be defeated and then have to learn different spells or come back later. So for example when I was clearing the 2nd level of the High Priests I was able to defeat both the Air and Fire factions relatively easy by using a simple approach create a bottleneck in an entry passage so they have to advance through a limited space use AOE spells like Grease and Stinking Cloud so they get weakened this made is easier for my 2 tanks to fight combat against less enemies and I could use AOE spells in the bottleneck areas...Fireball is always my friend But this strategy failed with the Water High Priest because of the Juggernaut monster who was too powerful so I came back later at higher level and spells like Stoneskin and was successful after about 5 attempts Then I got Thrommels Sword as a reward for freeing him but only much later and that single weapon made a huge difference in battles, I gave it to my barbarian. This must be the best sword in the whole game? When I first got to the elemental nodes I thought I would be able to defeat most enemies using my standard strategy but I quickly learnt a hard lesson that wasn't going to work against the Demon bosses to get the gems. So I ended up using and learning buffs I typically wouldn't focus on like Remove Fear and ways to boost my saves against the Hezrou stench But these were all very challenging battles with the Balor being the hardest of all enemies but I persevered and Thrommels Sword made a huge difference Then I got to Zuggtmoy and ended up taking the gems and banishing her without a major final battle which I wanted. So I restored and waited for her to attack me and it was an incredibly difficult battle especially with all her fungus summons 4/8 of my party died in this final battle but I did kill her and I thought " wow, game over. That was exhilarating " But then you get to travel to Verbobonc for an massive expansion added by the Co8 mod , completely unexpected. Could my experience get any better So I have just started on the Verbobonc expansion and its really appreciated because I wasn't ready to stop playing this game

@ShadySands speak of the devil. Glad to see you're ok.

I didn't get any PMs so I assume it wasn't one the games I have listed. Though I probably have a hundred more to add by now

Project Hail Mary Really good. My wife and I both liked it a lot and shes not usually a fan of "sci-fi".

I was away for a while but yeah:

I think if I was Obsidian, my umbrella fear would be that this changing of things around by MS is their hail mary. eg, they (mostly, kind of) survived this round of MS cuts/restructuring etc, but if this new Fallout game they're being told to make (while canceling the others on top) doesn't hit big, Obs is gone (from MS anyway). I'm not sure if a new Obs-Fallout is going to be the actual marketing/sales success win-button re: the numbers that MS probably envisions/wants. I mean, I'd assume MS wants better than Avowed or Grounded sales and sees this path as the potential avenue for it. As others said, much probably also hinges on how much MS dictate/interfere with an Obs-vision. More big studio slop feeling or more old-school Obs-unique take etc.

Finished Mafia Definitive Edition. I wasn't going crazy, they did change the story quite a bit. The ending was pretty good. I'm going to play Mafia 3 next.

Mafia - I'm playing the redone original. I finished it before the remake, and I remember enjoying it, but I really don't remember the story at all. It's well done though. The city feels alive and the story is solid. I bought the 3rd game with it as a pack (already owned 2) so I might play that next.

I started Void Marauders. xcom clone in space. The plot is literally that you are searching for an artifact that will make you king of the (space) pirates.

Still playing Cyberpunk 2077. The loot system is boring. Also decided to give Postal 4 another shot and I am very happy decided to do so: the recent patch finally made the game playable and I am liking it so far. I also bought Dead island 2 Ultimate Edition based on what @BruceVC had to say about it. It was on sale for only 7 bucks.

I get that all the time, minus the region change. Just delete YT cookies. Every time I close/open my desktop browser, YT's home page is black/no thumbnails and tells me to search/watch so they can figure out what I like. >.> Based on my tablets "cookies remain" action, while YT's "personalized" algorithm has always been poo, the last 4-6 months it's been even more poo - like they changed how it works recently perhaps (not surprising ofc).

YouTube thinks I am a Russian in Finland, is rather funny

This randomly popped up on youtube in incognito, well not this video specifically but Asmongold reacting to it. 😂 So it's double the dose. Going on yt with a fresh algorithm is an experience, especially if you change regions.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance2 Full playthrough took me a bit over 150h, and I enjoyed every 2nd of it. My only disappointment is some of the ending I got - for one I was aiming to play honourable Henry but according to the game (and my imaginary parents) I was quite a scoundrel nonetheless. Apparently I stole quite a bit and according to my stats killed over 50 civilians.... though fair enough. I not upset about it per-say, but I was thinking about playing scoundrel Henry for my 2nd playthrough, and now I feel like I should try good Henry again, especially as I can miss on some quests now. There are also some odd things. Like being judged for unnecessarily pursuing revenge by killing the traitor, while the only reason I did that was to save a comrade he was torturing. The game didn't even give me an option to knock him out and lethal option was the only one available. Apparently you are supposed to talk to him, duel him and then you have an option to let him go (after which he alerts the camp to your presence). Which 1) taking away systemic options for the same of contrived scripted choice - not cool, 2) I mean... at the moment two of us are on the very dangerous mission and sabotaging it means loosing not only our lives but everyone defending in the castle. If there was a justified kill in KCD2, it probably was this one. A more disappointing bit though, is that the game didn't recognize my devotion to Theresa. I withhold from romancing and sleeping with anyone for the whole playthrough and mentioned Theresa whenever I could but she still wasn't an option at the end. I suspect I messed up at the very start of playthrough as I meant to be modest when asked about my romantic life, while the game interpreted it as not romanced Theresa in KCD1. That hurts more, as I will definitely want to explore romance options for my 2nd playthrough. oh well. That aside - what a game. It has a bit of Baldur's Gate2 symptom - it's clearly a richer, more polished and expansive game then the original and overall superior in gameplay and storytelling, but I missed a bit roughness of KCD1. A more friendly progression in KCD2 means the world doesn't feel nearly as threatening, and considering the sheer size of the tile, I think Henry gets good at stuff a bit too quickly. Entire latter part of the playthrough was me choosing which maxed out stat I want to use, most of the time. In general, I wish there was far more choice to be made. I think core system with skills raising as we use them and perks is fine, but that we don't really have to choose much to me is. In the end, in most cases you will be able to get every perk in most skill trees, and that is just not very interesting. However I choose to play Henry, he will likely end up the same, unless I am really picky on what quests I do and how I approach situations. I wonder if a non-completionist playthrough would change how I feel about it, but at the moment I feel KCD could beneift from branching skill trees and some limit in progression. Anyway, nitpicks here and there. Masterstrike still trivializes combat on your end, while your opponents using it strongly punishes exploring other options. Overall loved it, and feel and urge to boot KCD1 turn on hardcore mode and do another full playthrough. Being sad when a 100+h game ends is I think the best recommendation I can get.

I finished Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened after about 20 hours It was incredibly short but still fun. The detective mechanics grow on you and how you find clues really becomes engaging Its gets a solid 60\100 on the " BruceVC game rating system " Now Im playing the new version of Temple of Elemental Evil I first played it in 2006 before I had a dedicated gaming PC and I used my work laptop. I cant remember if I finished it but I do remember I loved it and the Greyhawk setting which is my 2nd favorite D&D gameworld and D&D is overall my favorite ruleset I used this Steam mod guide to configure ToEE and I also installed Co8 and Temple+ so Im playing that version and not SNEG. I recommend this guide for anyone wanting to understand the different install options and how to mod the game https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623934050 I created my 6 characters manually, its great fun micromanaging everything. I did have to review some D&D rules just to remind myself of a few things My party consists of fighter barbarian cleric rogue wizard sorcerer Lets see how things progress 🐲

World Cup Tourists Meet A*M*E*R*I*C*A

Please increase the radius of storage boxes My base isn't that big and it doesn't cover the whole thing.

I do wonder, after all this time, if Obsidian’ll actually try something new with this opportunity, or if they’ll go (or perhaps are forced to go) the New Vegas route and make total conversion of the last existing game in the series. I mean, I’d rather see a fresher take than another clumsy Bethesda-shooter just written with some better sense of the franchise. Let Bethesda do the **** they do, and Obsidian do simethibg they do better than those clumsy FP-shooters. TOW and Awoved weren’t really top notch in that regard either, so do something else.

Mirror in the Bathroom was great, but the only album of their I bought back then was the one that had this one it. I liked it a lot (the album) And of course, because.

Have you played Pentiment? IIRC you weren't particularly fond of lots of combat, so just your kind of game. Granted, it was always set up to be a more niche experience (art style, narrative, historical focus). I still think it deserved to go a little bigger. Btw, what's being done do id Software highlights how crazy this industry is. They didn't only make games, after all. They had one of the most experienced engine tech teams in the industry. In other words, major long-term assets. Which is something that Obsidian for instance don't have, didn't have even in the Black Isle days (without Bioware's Infinity Engine, most of their games as we know them now would have never been). Throwing all (or most) of that under the bus just figures. And that by MS -- for which gaming isn't the main business anyway. In other words, they could "afford" to keep those assets. Rather than axing them straight away.

Gotta love how much effort this President is expending to promote the adoption of renewable energy sources: The Iran war has pushed some countries away from oil and toward clean energy Keep up the good work! We couldn't have done it without you.

Beyond reason, post Starfield for sure. If that'd sold as hoped you could justify the profligacy with TES and Fallout. As it was it didn't sell as well as expected and had a poor fan and relatively poor critical reaction. A bit of a boot up the backside is more than justified. It is, really. Bringing in a moderate amount of money reliably with low overheads- and they should be low, download bandwidth is cheap as is shared MP infrastructure- is a perfect example of low risk. It should be a licence to print money; though maybe not as much money as they'd like. Kind of sums things up when 30mn subs isn't enough. That's 300mn/ month and 3.6bn p/a if everyone was on the basic plan. Each month every month, each year, every year. You'd think that would be enough, really. The irony when it comes to risk is that, say, a 20mn Fallout strategy game would be high risk, but a 500mn Fallout RPG could be seen as lower risk. In reality, it's obvious that the higher priced one is far more risky. (They clearly wanted a Netflix style defaultism for gamepass where people have the sub and don't seem to cancel no matter how many times the service is degraded and prices go up; and indeed sub numbers in total only ever seem to go up. For some reason, despite Netflix being, to be blunt, absolute rubbish. That approach only seems to work for Netflix, everyone else including MS tends to have a somewhat different experience where expectations of massive profits have not been realised)

Don't know if I would have loved a Fallout game by Larian, but it sure as hell would have had nice turn based combat, so there's that at least...

It’s been a while. Haven’t really been into Obsidian games since Deadfire and Pentiment. Saw the news on layoffs and Fallout, so figured I’ll check back on the old stomping grounds.

Finally got an appointment/surgery day for hubby, end of month.

Before Trumps second presidency I would have believed this is fake news ...but now Im not so sure. It could be real

Loved the strike series so this is great stuff!

Damn it, I could have saved $10 if I waited 12 years.

That's what happens to fragmented markets: There's fewer space for "one size fits all product". Same as in music and the decline of the omnipresent super star that everybody agrees on. Or as a wise dev once put it: "A game made for everyone is a game made for no one." Personally, I think that's a good thing. Whilst there's overall TOO many releases now even to keep track of, there is a game and a catalogue to build for pretty much everyone. Back in the mid 2000s to mid 2010s, that plain wasn't the case. As the increasingly fewer monolithic publishers and even physical stores dictated what got funded, made -- and eventually played... RPG devs stopped making games like Baldur's Gate 'because retailers told us no one wanted to buy them', says New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity director Josh Sawyer | PC Gamer

But this also means that the game developers and publishers aren't solely to blame for where we are today. The gaming public bears a good proportion of the blame as well. People these days, generally, have ridiculously unrealistic expectations and demands, are very entitled, and are intolerantly opinionated (as in, everything should be what I want and not what someone else wants, or else ...!).

I hate when I buy something on steam and I forget to check if it's on gog. Guess now I found out how Steam refunds work...

I pretty much agree with him (he's talking about larger big-name publishers/devs). Quarterly report pleasing shareholders models, Covid period breeding more inflated expectations, short sighted decisions. Consumers having gazillions of games and backlogs to choose from vs. spending new/full-price. Consumers being fed up with various things (mass current loss of consumer trust), leading to much more "I'll wait for a year, when it's fixed/done and on sale" which cycles into not getting pleasing quarterly reports for new releases, and so on.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/137984-unique-helmets-lost-those-enchant-after-hexform-of-the-helpless-beast-irrevocably. Following up on this with findings from the above thread. I can confirm the loss of headgear enchantment is indeed part of the same bug! From several attempts of throwing a character at Sigilmaster Auranic with or without Stands of Favor, the headgear enchantments disappear only when neckless was equipped with the spell in effect. It does seem to be a bit of a luck based thing from what I have seen. Either you'll lose all your equipment except for the item that reduces hostile duration, or lose just the headgear enchantment. Though on one occasion I lost headgear enchantment and Strand of Favor. The good news is that since it seems stem from the same bug the fix I created seem to address it! 😁

Not news but an approach I find reasonable: https://www.pentadact.com/2026-01-08-15-years-of-indie-dev-in-4-bits-of-advice/ Admittedly, a large cost sink is the visual assets and VA, while the crowd who can spend several thousands on their hardware are also more likely to have $70 of disposable income, but there are more people with $20. That is to say, the lower the system requirements, including the storage, the better for the production costs, the gamers, and the environment.

After looking through the screenshots, I've realised that I "finished" (as in, got pretty far and grew tired of bugs) Retro Abyss. A somewhat meta bullet-hell. The "numbers go up" part and the visual design were enjoyable, the story did not quite land for me (the in-game player seems to be a set character) and the writing was somewhat off in terms of phrasing or translation. The main issue is that the game stopped saving the progress between the sessions at some point and the cut-scenes were unskippable. Decided to let Absinthia be - I really do not like the RPGMaker combat system and the linear story, even if the core party is quite appealing. Replayed I was a Teenage Exocolonist for the "best" ending and got a few more along the way. It is welcome to see a mostly visual novel that takes the advantage of Unity not being a VN-only engine (i.e. you can run around the maps with the keyboard). It is somewhat less enjoyable when you are going from the start to the end and trying to optimise to hit few very specific things, but it was quite nice to see some mid-game endings and the full character endings. Virtue and a Sledgehammer demo. I liked the aesthetic and the presentation, but destroying robots in a forest felt wrong. One must go for the squishy and, most importantly, not-flameable meatbag that had put the robots there. Which, I assume, was the goal, but unachieveable during the demo. Still, reminded me of Johnny Gat.

I don't really understand the gaming industry, I guess. Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed were extremely good games. They told a good story, they were fun to play, and I finished them. Personally I don't want a bunch of games that overstay their welcome. I don't want every game to be a live service that expects you to play for years to come. I want a good 1-4 weeks of entertainment and then I want to move on with my life.

Greetings Watchers, Today we are releasing patch 3.9.5.0 for Pillars of Eternity on Steam, GOG, EGS and Xbox PC. Patch Notes:Combat and Mechanics - Global Attack Speed and Reload Speed bonus provided by the One-Eyed Molina's Gold Fingered Spike-Flinger now works similarly to other Attack Speed bonuses granted by weapons. Combat and Mechanics – Turn-Based Mode Specific Increased the minimum initiative of Adragan actions in TBM. Seal type spells no longer disappear immediately when placed in or outside of combat. Trail of fire dropped by Fire Stag now appears and works correctly in the Turn-Based Mode. Cipher's Tactical Meld ability now correctly provides bonus Accuracy when attacking the same enemy as the target. Ancient Memory no longer triggers multiple times in one turn on characters with low Intellect. Spellstamina: Fear Aura enchantment of the Dragon's Maw Shield no longer causes the Fear Aura effect to trigger multiple times in one turn. Encounter by the Sacrificial Pit in the Endless Paths of Od Nua Level 2 can now be progressed properly. Same target accuracy bonus and other similar effects are now applied correctly in Turn-Based Mode. Xaurips during the encounter with the Adra Dragon, now aggro properly towards the Player's party. Visual and Audio AoE preview of the Twin Stones Druid spell now appears properly in the Turn-Based Mode. User Interface and Interaction Resolved an issue leading to excessive engagement message spam in the combat log in Turn-Based Mode. Threatening Presence no longer spams the combat log in Turn-Based Mode. Various “Active effects” have had their displayed values corrected in Turn-Based Mode. Several issues related to interacting with beetle-type enemies and their corpses no longer occur. Description of Veteran's Recovery now mentions the correct amount of Endurance gained per turn. It is now possible to disable the Turn-Based Mode combat start banner by using the ungated console command “ToggleTacticalModeBanner”. Interactive area of End Turn button in Turn-Based Mode now properly matches the button itself. Turn-Based Node can no longer be toggled during interactions and UI states where most of the player input is disabled. Warning now appears when trying to switch between combat modes during an encounter. Ongoing movement commands are now stopped after ending the turn in Turn-Based Mode. No Movement warning is now displayed when targeting the out of reach enemy/area with an attack or ability when out of movement in Turn-Based Mode. If you come across any issues, please contact us at support.obsidian.net Thank you for your continued feedback and support!

You answered your own question (possibly unintentionally) From your link: UPDATE: In a twist to Dring’s report, Jason Schreier is now reporting that Obsidian is NOT one of the at-risk studios at Xbox. “Despite a report this morning, I can confirm that Obsidian is not in negotiations to avoid shutting down. Plenty of details are still up in the air surrounding the layoffs (picture will be clear on Monday) but Xbox is keeping Obsidian, according to people familiar with the situation.”

Oh yeah, internet blackouts. To us it's normal at this point.

Not clicking on that dumbass' video, will just safely assume it's some crying about woke.

They already have factories in place, in fact they have a stranglehold on lower level/older chip production (they produce 90% of it) and from what I understood they are able to manufacture ddr5. I guess the question is are they able to produce ddr5 at scale...

7 Days to Die, 3.0 experimental - wait, wait - there's a No Experience option. I tested it - zero XP for doing anything. I've lowered XP gain before for gamestage difficulty reasons, but never thought about a "level 1 forever". Oh oh oh, this has possibilities. --the only power progression would be found or crafted higher lvl gear and mods you can use in that gear --the entire skill/perk tree is useless (less meaningful than one might think, but it does make a difference --could also lower gamestage/other to make found loot rarer, and limit or remove Traders, weaken zombie spawns etc to taste. Maybe wandering nomad survivor style vs. looter shooter/tower defense would feel a lot more fun again. Gonna try it.

Happy father's day everyone. I took the family to Disneyland last week. It was expensive, but the crowds were light on 2 of the 3 days. The Star Wars area is amazing and I hung out there as much as possible. We hadn't been in a decade, so I am glad I got it in with them before they become full adults.

In a first for me, I am thrilled to report that one of my bird houses has produced a second nesting pair of this season. The first pair produced two chicks and then everyone moved out (I think) and now a new pair (I think) has moved in. I often wonder if the same birds come back but its impossible to differentiate between sparrows and Ive got a lot of them around here.